Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-10-16
Eyes OF the Bee.

Any one who will take the trouble to
examine with lens the head OF bee
will see on either side the large, round
ed compound eye. and on the forehead
or vertex three bright little simple eyes.
The latter are, az their name implies,
comparatively simple in structure, each
with single lens. But the compound
eyes have complex structure. Exter-
nally the surface is seen to be divided
up into a great number OF heIa-
gonal areas, each Of which is called
a facet, and forms a little lens. Of
these the queen bee has on each side
nearly 5000, the worker some G,O0O,
and the drone upward of 1900. Be
meath each facet is a crystalline cone, a
so.caled nerve rod, and other struc-
lures, too complextO be here described,
which pass inward toward the brain.
1t will be seen, then, that the So
called compound eye, with its thou
sands of facets, its thousands OF
crystalline cones, its Thousands OF
"nerve rods" and other elements, is a
structure Of no little complexity. Tho
| question AOM uiiStSg 10 ~ OLC
structure or many? Is it an eye
or an aggregate OF eyes? To
this question the older natural
lists answered cOnfdently-an aggre-
gate. And a simple experiment seems
to warrant this conclusion. Puget,
quoted in Goldsmith's "Animatel Ma
ture," adapted the facets Of the eye OF
a f-pardon ne, fair reader, OF aminute
sphsnipterous insect OF the genus Pu
le1-so as to see objects through it I'M
der the microscope. GA soldier who
was thus seen appeared like an army of
pigmies, for while it multiplied it also
diminished the object the arch Of q
bridge exhibited a spectacle more mag
nifcsnt than human skill could perform,
and the flame OF candle seemed
the illumination Of thousands OF
lamps" Although Cheshire, in his
book on the bee, adopts this view and
supports it by reference TO similar
experiment, it numbers to-day but few
supporters. One is tempted to marvel
at the ability OF the drone to co-ordi-
nate "a, 600 separate images into sim
Gle distinct object. Picture the con-
fusion of images OF one who had slipped
too freely Of the sweet but delusiye
dregs OF the punch bowl! Under
similar circumstances human folk
are reported to see double. Think
Of the appalling condition of an in
ebriate drone Phose who believe the
facetted eye to be one organ with many
parts contend that each facet and its
underlying structures give, not a COM
plete image of the external object as Il
whole, but the image OF a single point
of that object. Thus there is formed
by the juxtaposition OF contiguous
points stippled image or an image in
mosaic. Hence this view is known as
MuIler's mosaic hypothesis. Lowne
has experimental with fine glass
threads arranged like the cones and
nerve rods of the bees eye, and finds
that (even when they are not surround
ed 10y pigment, as are the elements in
en- insects eye) all oblique rays are got
rid of by numerous reflections and the
interference due TO the different lengths
Of the rays. Some modification of the
mosaic hypothesis is now generally
adopted, and Dr. Hickson has recently
worked out with great care the struc-
sure OF tie optic trGet which lies be-
tween the crystalline cones and the
brain.